Sao Paulo: The turmoil that has affected emerging markets in recent months has opened up opportunities for long-term investors, according to Saudi Arabian businessman Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed.

“The sell-offs in emerging markets are naturally pegged to speculative capital and will always happen in times of distress,” Mr. Alwaleed said in an emailed response to questions.

Prince Alwaleed has interests in more than 20 companies around the world. He is the son of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who, according to Forbes magazine, has a net worth estimated at $20 billion as of March 2013. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns a stake in News Corp, the owner of Dow Jones & Co. and the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

After two years studying the Brazilian market, Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed is moving forward with local investments in oil and gas, infrastructure, logistics, construction, and mining.

In the past few months, the prince has made several investments in Brazil. He has increased his stake in a one billion-reais ($430 million) infrastructure complex in the state of Espirito Santo that will serve the booming oil industry. The complex, called Petrocity Portos S.A., is based near one of Brazil’s large new oil-producing areas known as pre-salt. The group is planning to take the company public on an international stock exchange, but hasn’t provided details on those plans.

Prince Alwaleed increased his investment in Petrocity earlier in February through the acquisition of shares of local private-equity firm BRPar Venture Partners, which invests in international companies entering the Brazilian market, for an undisclosed amount.

Prince Alwaleed’s group, KBW, also has taken a larger stake in mining firm Royal Minerals, which explores for iron ore, gravel and granite, and has expanded to 50% its share in Brazilian construction and engineering company Arcadia Engenharia do Brasil, created at the end of 2013 by the Romanian firm Arcadia Engineering SRL.

Prince Alwaleed’s group also recently bought control of Raimondi Cranes SpA, an Italian firm that makes cranes. Raimondi and KBW are looking to set up a manufacturing unit in Brazil with an investment of 40 million Brazilian reais.

“In order for the country [Brazil] to continue growing, it will need to invest in railways, highways and ports, and the public sector is slowly acknowledging that the private sector is indispensable for such a scenario to happen,” Prince Alwaleed said.

The criteria for his Brazilian investments, the prince said, has been to focus on sectors that have services pegged to the U.S. dollar, such as oil and gas, and product prices defined by international markets, such as the commodity sector, the prince said.

KBW investments in Brazil come at a time of weak economic expansion. After robust 7.5% growth in 2010, the country’s expansion has been lagging and it is expected to remain below 2% both in 2014 and 2015.

Meanwhile, economists see the real weakening to 2.50 reais to the dollar at the end of the year, a sharp depreciation from the 1.8 reais to the dollar in 2011.

“We all know that exotic currencies devaluate quite abruptly, and for long-term investors such as KBW, this is actually an opportunity for entrance, as the prices of local assets are depreciated against a stronger dollar. Look at Argentina,” the prince said.